2012 brings me applying for a Idaho 27-1 Bighorn Sheep tag and Moose in Maine. In Idaho I will be chasing Turkey and Bear this spring and Elk and Deer this Fall, Whitetails in IL and CT and maybe Antelope in WY.

Junior Member

Here is the short version. Hunted the hills in the area for a week with little success. Called in a few small bulls but we could not locate the big boys that I usually see in the area. So, we cut our losses and decided to float the South Fork of the Snake for a few days to see what we could find. The first day would be a scouting mission and then float/camp for the next two.

We found moose on every island we came to, mostly cows and calves. Had a cow and a calf cross the river right in front of us, stopped and called but no bulls. My brother, who came out from CT to hunt with me, said that we should get out of the boat and call for a while, but I told him since we had alot of river to go, we should head on. Plus, no bull responded to my excellent calling. Ha. As I pulled up the anchor on the driftboat, I saw a bull on the next island down, about 1/4 mile away.

We arrived at the island, and as I got out of the boat, I looked upstream and saw a bull crossing the river right where the cow and calf did. Sh!t, do we go back of river, and how do we get back up there? My brother said we might as well look for the bull on this island before heading back up. We walked the island while calling, with no response, and I decided while 2/3rds of the way down that we will give it one more shot then head back up river. Well, after a call and raking the trees, we finally got the response we were waiting for.

Once the bull responded, he was on a string, coming right up the trail I was on and grunting the entire way. I stepped off the trail in to some brush and waited for him to get to me. He came in, stopped broadside at six yards and I let the arrow go. Complete pass through, he went about 10 steps, stopped for a second then ran right at my brother, going by him at 3 yards and finally laying down 30 yards away. After catching my breath and high fives with my brother, I said that we need to look for blood. He said there is no need, he is dead, he heard him go down. I still wanted to check and looked down to see the forest floor spray painted with blood. Easy bull to find.

After coming up on several dead Elk, I was in awe to actually walk up on this animal. He was huge and we both looked at each other and asked "what do we do now?" Fortunately, it was only about 100 yards from the edge of the river, so we cut it up and threw it in the boat. Very easy and how I recommend everyone hunting moose. The biggest problem was the 8 mile float with an additional 5-600 lbs in the boat. It was like rowing my pickup truck down the river.

This was probably the coolest thing I have ever done in my hunting life, and it was especially great because I got to share it with my brother. He was just as, if not more, excited as me. Just like the tag, it was a once in a lifetime experience and something that I will always remember.

Administrator

Rob, Great story! and great hunt. We need to get this story in the moose forum...
If you have time, can you just copy/paste your story to a thread and reload your pic? I know we are only a week old, but best story I've read so far. Think about it.